Hello, hope you're well! :) Question about Brief Psychotic Disorder. Character is traumatized by having to face his abuser and his manipulation/mental abuse daily. Character is an addict, and, in the throes of the psychotic episode, relapses into abusing Xanax/Valium/Vicodin and the like to deal with the stress. Would that stop the psychotic episode, since it 'helps' him feel less anxious/scared/stressed and 'feel less' traumatized? Or is it not that simple?

From what I can tell, it’s really not that simple. These medications may help the character feel temporarily better and less stressed out, but it would not end their psychotic episode. You’d typically need antipsychotics for that.

However, because your character has brief psychotic disorder, not schizophreniform, schizophrenia, etc, it’s possible that by the time an antipsychotic could kick in, the psychosis could already have ended. Sometimes they can kick in within a few days; other times it can take 6 weeks for the effects to kick in (to qualify for a diagnosis of brief psychotic disorder, the episode can’t last more than 4 weeks).

Disclaimer - psychopharm is not my forte, at all - @scriptpharmacist may help you get a better answer.

#0asissss #asks #medication #referral to scriptpharmacist #psychosis #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #brief psychotic disorder #antipsychotics #substance abuse #xanax #valium #vicodin #addiction #psychotic break #psychotic disorders #psychopharmacology #drugs

scriptshrink

Anonymous asked:

could someone plausibly 'block' out someone's existence due to a psychotic break? if they discovered said person was responsible for some abnormally reprehensible betrayal, could they believably 'break' psychologically to the point that they wouldn't recognize their very existence? i.e. their physical presence, voice, etc. just not registering to the traumatized party to the point that they are convinced they're being 'haunted' so to speak?

Hmm, that’s an interesting question! That’d definitely be a delusion, but I couldn’t find anything specifically like what you describe.

Considering, however, that delusions such as Capgras (where someone believes that people around them are replaced by impostors) and Cotard (where someone believes they themselves are dead / do not exist) delusion exist, I see no reason why they couldn’t combine, so to speak. Your character could easily have the delusion that the person doesn’t exist.

My Demystifying entry on Delusions / Delusional Disorder may be able to help you out further!

#delusions #delusional disorder #Anonymous #asks #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #psychosis #psychotic break #capgras #cotard

scriptshrink

Anonymous asked:

Can psychosis be caused by stress or a traumatic event? Like someone starts hallucinating things or having delusions but don't have an illness like schizophrenia, for example? Thank you!

Yes! What you’re looking for is called Brief Psychotic Disorder. See my post about it here!

There’s a specifier for it called “with marked stressor(s)”. Basically, it means that there’s something identifiable that is linked to the start of the psychotic break (stress, trauma, etc.).

What’s also a little unusual about this disorder is that it requires that the character returns to normal within a month. If they don’t, they can’t be diagnosed with it.

Many people who have brief psychotic disorder only have one episode. So a character could have something super stressful happen to them, causing them to have a psychotic break, but the character does return to normal pretty quickly, and doesn’t have further psychotic breaks.

#brief psychotic disorder #Anonymous #asks #psychosis #psychotic break #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #stressor

scriptshrink

Brief Psychotic Disorder - Demystifying the DSM-V

This is one of the psychotic disorders (obvs).

For your character to be diagnosed with it, they need to have one or more of the following.

NOTE - At least one HAS to be 1, 2, or 3.

Delusions - the character believes with absolute conviction something that is not true. Ex: “The FBI is following me,” “Aliens have implanted a tracking device in my arm,” “A celebrity is secretly in love with me and sending me messages.” (see my post here for more details!)
Hallucinations - the character is sensing something that is not actually there. For example: hearing voices, seeing monsters, smelling a dead body, feeling insects crawling underneath their skin.*
Disorganized speech - the character’s words / thoughts can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to understand (See my post here for how to show this!)
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior - see my post on catatonic behavior here. Some examples of disorganized behavior:
A decline in overall daily functioning
Unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses
Behaviors that appear bizarre and have no purpose
Lack of inhibition and impulse control [source]

The character needs to have been experiencing said symptoms for at least 1 day but less than 1 month. Afterwards, they need to eventually return to their usual self.

The character’s symptoms are not better explained by another mental disorder, medical condition, or effects of a drug.

There are a couple specifiers:

With marked stressor(s) - something happened to really upset the character, and caused their psychotic break.

Without marked stressor(s) - “Fuck if we know what caused it.”

With peripartum onset - the character started experiencing symptoms when they were pregnant, or within 4 weeks of giving birth.

There’s also a severity specifier, but that’ll be gone into in a future post.

*A great way to start a character’s descent into psychosis is to have them experience illusions at first. This means sensing something that is actually there, but misinterpreting it. These are related to hallucinations but not technically in the diagnostic criteria. Ex: hearing rustling leaves as whispering voices, seeing a dog but perceiving it as a demonic beast.

Like what you see? Head on over to Patreon and help support Scriptshrink!

#demystifying #demystifying the dsm 5 #brief psychotic disorder #psychotic break #delusions #hallucinations #psychosis #psychotic disorders #disorganized speech #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #criteria #demystifying the DSM 5